Population Deceased
by MatrixFoxDemon
Summary: After a breakout in Fairfield occurs, Zoey finds herself separated from her group. But when she gets unexpected help from another survivor, she can't help but wonder who else survived. Who is this person, and could they know what happened? Five Parts.
1. Chapter 1 Welcome to Fairfield

**Disclaimer!** I don't own anything to do with the Resident Evil or Left 4 Dead series.

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Part One  
No Mercy

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Chapter One  
Welcome to Fairfield

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Zoey breathed heavily. All she could see was a green gas. She coughed into her arm, shooting at the infected in front of her. She ran out of the room.  
"Safe house… Where is that safe house?" she wheezed. She saw a barred door and tried to get in.  
"Guys? Are you in there?" she screamed. No one answered. Then something clicked in her head.  
"Damn it! I've been going _backwards_!" Zoey yelled in frustration. She heard someone coming her way.  
"Francis? That better be you!" Zoey ran towards the noise, keeping a tight grip on her M1911A1 pistol. A long tongue wrapped around her waist. She screamed in shock as the smoker dragged her forward. She looked at the tongue and shot it. The smoker shrieked. Zoey shot the smoker a few times before it exploded into a green puff of smoke.  
"Why are all the smokers going after me?" she wondered out loud. She covered her mouth again, wandering through the apartments.

'Let's split up guys! We'll cover more ground that way! Let's send the college girl in last so she can find the safe house on her _frickin own_! It's the best chance we've got! No worries about Zoey getting _lost_. No siree. I'm totally not _lost_. That idiot Francis… Bill's going to kill him for this,' Zoey thought. She didn't like the idea, but she was inevitably out-voted.  
'When I get to Mercy Hospital, I'm going to hurt someone.' She sighed. Mercy hospital was still a long ways away. She had to find the sewers before she got even more lost. Zoey walked down the flight of stairs. She continued walking around aimlessly.

"No smokers. So far so good…" she muttered. Zoey heard a crack. She looked around for the source, holding her pistol out in front of her. The crack became louder as she stepped back. She had only just put her foot down when she fell through the floor. She hit the floor below and fell through again. She felt large chunks of debris hit her, even after she hit ground level. The rubble stopped pounding after a short while. Zoey pushed some of the debris away and pulled herself out of the ruins.  
"Well, that's one way of doing it," she commented. She ran up to the door and looked outside. Aside from the odd zombie, it was pretty quiet. She ran outside and shot every zombie in sight. She found a second pistol on the hood of a car. A note was next to it. She read it quickly.  
'Well, if you had let me go _first_, maybe I wouldn't be so far _behind_, idiot,' she thought. Zoey looked outside of the alley. She quietly slipped into a building and came out on the other side.

"Oh, thank _God_! The safe house!" she whimpered, seeing the spray painted house on a wall. Just then a hunter jumped on top of her. She tried to shoot it off, but it swiped her guns away. She struggled to get the infected off of her in vain. It cut deeply into her blocking arms.  
'I guess this is it. Sorry, I'm not gonna make it guys,' she thought. She shut her eyes tightly, completely giving up the struggle for her life. A pair of gun shots rang out. Blood splattered onto her face and a mass of flesh and cloth slumped onto her body. Zoey slowly opened her eyes, only to find that the hunter was dead. She pushed it off of her and scrambled to get her guns. She looked around for her saviour. She pulled herself up and saw a shadow running for the safe house.

"Hey! Wait!" Zoey called, running after the shadow. She went down a quick flight of stairs, when another shot rang out and a car alarm went off. She shot an infected in between the eyes and scrambled into the safe room. She slammed the door shut as sighed heavily. She looked around and noticed that she was completely alone in the room. She sighed, picking up a few packages of ammunition and an Uzi submachine gun. She quickly cleaned out her wounds and wrapped them up in gauze. She tossed the empty first-aid kit aside and slid a new one onto her back. She looked out side of the barred off window in the door. A zombie jumped at the door. Zoey screamed and fell back. She pulled out the pistols and fired. The zombie fell limply against the door. Zoey got up and looked out the door again. Something was written on the wall in a blue permanent marker. She slipped outside of the safe house, pockets now full of ammunition. She walked up to the wall, adjusting the strap of her first-aid kit.

"'We'll meet you in the sewers. We can't stay because of the tank. Hurry up and get down there Zoey!'" Zoey read aloud.  
"Now I know I'm not going to make it out of here," she sighed. She walked away from the wall. She went down the stairs, carefully watching for more infected. There was the occasional zombie, but not much more.  
"Francis must have ploughed through here before anything could happen," Zoey mused. She walked up a few more stairs only to come to a dead end. She looked down and saw a pipe bomb.  
"This looks dangerous." She picked up the bomb and walked back down the stairs. A zombie had just noticed her. She fired at it and ran down the escalator. She ran over to the next set of escalators, only to be surprised by a hunter. Zoey had the luck of dodging it this time. She pulled out the Uzi and unloaded a quick burst into its head. She walked up the escalator, switching the Uzi for her pistols.

She looked around the area. There were three Molotov cocktails sitting on a seat.  
"Time to start some fires…" she chuckled to herself, putting them in her belt. She sighed.  
"That's only funny when people are around." Zoey passed the first train car and found some ammunition on a steel girder. She grabbed some and put them in the first-aid kit. She continued down the tracks, checking every open space for more infected. She was about to climb into an open train car when she suddenly heard loud sobs and a large growl.

"Well _crap_."


	2. Chapter 2 Back to Work for Rest

**Disclaimer!** I don't own anything to do with the Resident Evil or Left 4 Dead series.

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Chapter Two  
Back to Work for Rest

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"I think I need a vacation from this vacation…" Claire sighed, leaning against a wall. She closed her eyes as she reminisced about the past two years. Terra Save was collapsing, thanks to WilPharma. Somehow, WilPharma had made legible accusations against Terra Save about the Harvardville incident, putting her in the middle of it. That, inevitably, led to her being fired for "conspiring with WilPharma", despite the fact that she helped uncover Frederick Downing's "sales pitch". Claire opted to join BSAA, and was quickly rejected because of her dismissal. After a year of drifting between dead-end jobs, she was hired by the government to be Leon S. Kennedy's partner, under recommendation by Leon himself. It had been about three years now, and this was the first vacation they got in over a year. Her brother, Chris, had taken some time off to visit her in Fairfield, but the visit was cut short when he had to go on a top priority mission. Now, she was stuck in Fairfield without any form of defense against a zombie apocalypse.

"I should have just gone home," she sighed hopelessly. Claire pulled out her PDA from her pocket, hoping for a connection. She swore and threw it to the ground when she realized it was dead.  
"Can't I ever get a lasting break?" she grumbled as she pulled her legs up to her chest. She heard gunfire outside of her barricaded door. She slowly stood, her limbs still a little numb from the cold. She looked outside of the window. Some men were running by shooting every zombie in sight. She could tell one of them was a part of Hell's Legion, simply from the tattoos that covered his arms. The other two were an old man and an office worker. They were moving too fast for her to get any help from them. She squinted as something fell from one of the biker's belt loops. He went to pick it up, but was stopped by the old man.

"Leave it! With any luck, Zoey will survive long enough to pick it up," the old man barked.  
"We already left her a second pistol! She'll be fine!" the biker roared.  
"Bill! Francis! I found the safe house!" the office worker called. The biker pulled his arm away.  
"You better hope she survives and picks that pistol up. Damn vampires," he growled dangerously. The three men ran for the safe house, completely out of Claire's vision.

It was quiet for a few minutes before Claire pulled herself out of her sanctuary and into the street. She picked up the pistol and ran back inside, blocking off her exit again.  
"Well, I do have to get out of here sometime." She grabbed her duffel bag and threw it over her shoulder. She checked the contents. She made a mental note to get more food later. She shoved a few more things into the bag before leaving the room.

She noticed a small breeze rushing past her. It carried the smell of death and destruction, with a hint of a perfume. Dust rose from a nearby building. Claire decided to wait for what she hoped was another survivor. She hid herself in an alley, listening to the gunshots as they got closer. It took only a few minutes for someone to come by. She could tell right away that the person wasn't infected.

"Oh, thank _God_! The safe house!" the girl whimpered, sounding extremely tired. Just before the girl could make a break for the safe house, a hooded infected jumped on top of the girl. She tried to shoot it off, but it swiped her guns away. She struggled to get the infected off in vain. She soon shut her eyes tightly, completely giving up the struggle for her life. Claire stepped out of the darkness and shot at the hunter twice. The bullets dug their way into the creature's skull, its blood splattering onto the other girl's face. The zombie slumped down in a pitiful manner onto the girl's body. She slowly opened her eyes, a look of relief washing over her face when she found out that the hunter was dead. She pushed it off of her and scrambled to get her guns. Claire took that opportunity to make a break for it. She ducked behind a wall in the safe room.

"Hey! Wait!" the girl called. She came down the stairs quickly. Claire looked outside and shot a zombie as it came down after the girl. Accidentally, the bullet was a through and through, hitting an alarmed car. The alarm went off and Claire scrambled out of the safe room, closing the door on her way out. She heard the other door slam behind her. Claire ran away from the scene, dodging all of the infected she came across. She heard a small scream, then gunshots. She walked up a flight of stairs and found a pair of pipe bombs. She took one and left the other behind for the girl. She ran down the stairs and escalator. In a busted window of a ticket booth, Claire noticed another pistol. She grabbed it and ran up the second set of escalators.

Reaching the top, a hunter lunged at her. She dodged it easily, letting it fall down the escalator. She noticed a few glass bottles and some cloths. She quickly made some Molotovs out of them and put three onto a seat. The other three hung from her belt, with just enough space in between them to not clink together as she moved. She stopped at a steel girder to grab some ammunition. She could now hear the girl somewhere behind her. Claire climbed on top of the train in front of her. The sound of an Uzi stung her ears. She crawled to the other end and jumped down. A grayish creature was sobbing loudly. She quickly found a table with two guns: a Benelli M4 Super 90 semi-automatic shotgun and a Ruger Mini-14 hunting rifle. She picked up the shotgun and checked its ammunition. The magazine was full and fortunately, there was extra ammo next to it. She quickly pulled out a piece of paper and wrote a note for the girl on it. She had just taped the note onto the rifle when the grayish creature screamed in pain.

"_Shit_."


	3. Chapter 3 To the Sewers

**Disclaimer!** I don't own anything to do with the Resident Evil or Left 4 Dead series.

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Chapter Three  
To The Sewers

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"Well _crap_."

Zoey's life quickly flashed before her eyes. After a few seconds, she snapped herself out of the trance. She backed away slowly from the train car. The sobbing got quieter. The growling, however, erupted into a roar. She looked behind her and saw the hunter back on its feet.  
"Damn. And close to a witch too," she breathed. The hunter roared a challenge at Zoey. The girl looked for an escape. There was no way around the situation.  
"I am _so_ screwed," she muttered nervously, the feeling of déjà vu washing over her. She pulled out a Molotov and a lighter. The hunter seemed to coil up like a spring before it charged her. She lit the fabric and threw it at the hunter. The bottle crashed on the ground, splattering old alcohol in front of the hunter. The hunter screeched loudly in pain, fire dancing onto his body. Zoey lifted her pistols, waiting for the hunter to fly out of the fire. The hunter ran around the fire, having got the tiny flame off of his sleeve. He glared at her and sprung from his position. Zoey aimed and open fired. The hunter fell in a heap.

She let go of the breath she was holding. She quickly reloaded and threw the body of the hunter into the still burning fire.  
"That should deal with you. Now where's that witch…?" Zoey grumbled. She shut off her light and looked around. She snuck into the train car quietly, putting her pistols away. The crying continued to get louder.  
"Shit. Shit. Shit," she chanted under her breath. It was an understatement to say that she was scared. Finally, the witch came into Zoey's line of sight. The girl froze on spot. She remembered the last encounter all too clearly.

The witch was at the end of the train. It seemed to stare at her for a couple seconds, then go back to crying. Zoey couldn't help but wonder why these creatures cried so much. What she did know was the immediate threat this creature currently posed, and that was all that mattered at this point.  
'How am I going to get around this…?' she thought. She was shaking slightly. Zoey gulped and took a step forward, causing the creature to growl. She immediately retreated to the previous train car. Hyperventilating, Zoey peered around the corner. The witch was settling down.  
'Shit shit shit shit….' she repeated. She looked down at the pipe bomb and Molotovs she had with her.

She breathed in a long breath and held it. She threw the Molotov at the witch. It screamed in pain and started to get up. Zoey shivered at the realization of what she had done. She turned away from the screaming witch and bolted out of the train. She looked behind her at the witch, who was hot on her tail.  
"Shit!" she shouted as she attempted to run faster. A gunshot pierced her ears. The witch screamed louder. Zoey glanced over her shoulder. The burning witch seemed to have given up on chasing her. She took the opportunity to open fire on the creature. It screamed again, eventually crumpling up on the ground.

"As anticlimactic as that was, _damn_, she's durable," Zoey commented. She looked around quickly for the source of the gunshot. She walked up to the train car. There was a discarded 9mm casing on the ground. She kneeled next to it and began to quietly debate whether she had a guardian angel or a stalker. She continued on threw the tunnel. She found a table with a hunting rifle lying on a table. A note was taped to it.

"Dear brown-haired girl,

Use this Ruger Mini-14 hunting rifle. It's already loaded with ammunition and I also attached a flash light to it. It should be just like a sniper rifle. Also, tell your biker friend that they are _zombies_, not _vampires_. Anyways, you should ditch the Uzi. You will be weighed down too much if you take it with you. Now hurry before the hunters make their way towards you."

"That's _totally_ not creepy," Zoey said sarcastically. A soft giggle echoed into her ears.  
"Great. Next, I'll see two little girls saying "Come play with us, Zoey"." A shivered ran up her spine as the giggle turned into laughter. She picked up the hunting rifle and shoved the note into her pocket. She went up a short flight of stairs and came to a room filled with zombies. Zoey sighed and picked the zombies off, quickly learning how to use her new rifle. Once she was finished, she slung the gun onto her back and walked to the other side. After another quick flight of stairs, she came across a generator room. It was already started up.

"I really hope this isn't going to lead to another one of those tanks," Zoey sighed. It was only then that she noticed her own negativity. Another sigh escaped her lips. She continued on without much trouble.  
"Now I see why Francis and Bill hate stairs so much," she commented upon her fourth flight of stairs. She came to a front desk and grabbed a Molotov. She clutched it in her hand as if it would make everything better. She walked outside cautiously, ready to throw the Molotov at a moment's notice. Coming back out onto the street, Zoey heard three different things that gave her three different emotions. The first was the slow shuffling sounds of feet and the emotion of annoyance. The second was distant and close gunfire, renewing hope that still seemed to be a far cry from where she stood. The third felt like the most important. It was the roar of a tank, causing her fear to push her other emotions aside. Zoey turned and saw that the tank was already almost on top of her. She turned around and fled for a nearby pawn shop. A couple zombies were inside, but they were far from being any kind of concern. She saw the red steel door of a safe room and ran inside. She heard the door slam behind her. She turned, not seeing a single soul on both sides of the locked door. The tank appeared on the other side of the door, causing Zoey fall back and scream. The creature roared, pounding at the door to get at its trapped prey. She hid in a corner and cried herself to sleep, the constant discharge of a gun outside being her only comfort.


	4. Chapter 4 Shadow Dancing

Chapter Four  
Shadow Dancing

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"_Shit_."

Claire ran after the creature as quickly as she could. When she reached the end of the train, it was about to catch up to the girl from earlier. She shot it in the back with her pistol, redirecting its attention towards her. The girl took that opportunity to open fire on the creature. Claire walked away, knowing that the creature wouldn't survive long. It gave out a scream that told her it was dead.  
"As anticlimactic as that was, _damn_, she's durable," the girl commented. Claire held back a chuckle. She walked opposite of the guns into an open room. There was a bottle of pain pills with the words "For Zoey" written in blue permanent marker. The smell was still there, so the girl's friends couldn't have been too far ahead. She put the bottle in her duffle bag, looking out the doorway.

"That's _totally_ not creepy," the girl said sarcastically. Claire giggled softly.  
"Great. Next, I'll see two little girls saying "Come play with us, Zoey"." Claire burst into laughter at the comment. The girl shivered in response. She picked up the hunting rifle and shoved the note into her pocket. She went up a short flight of stairs and came to a room filled with zombies. Claire followed closely behind. She watched the girl pick off the zombies slowly, strangely not even noticing her. When she finally moved, Claire walked behind her, making sure that nothing came at them.

'I'm really beginning to hate stairs,' Claire thought after the fourth flight of stairs.  
"Now I see why Francis and Bill hate stairs so much," Zoey commented. Claire grinned at the remark, biting her lip to keep herself from laughing. She had actually passed Zoey by taking a different route, although she kept herself close enough to hear the girl. Claire looked back at her. She looked a little winded from the constant movement. Neither of them had taken time to rest. It seemed like days since they had seen the cloudy sky. She passed a desk and left directly for the door. Claire was ecstatic to see the dreary clouds even if it was for a short time. Zombies were all around her. She quickly found a decent vantage point and began to shoot all of the zombies in sight.

When Zoey came outside, Claire noticed the one thing she never wanted to see in the given situation: a large muscled zombie, almost reminiscent of William Birkin. It roared and ran strait for Zoey. Zoey noticed this and ran for her life. Claire gave her cover fire until Zoey had gotten inside of the pawn shop. She jumped into the window, knocking an infected out of the way. Once Zoey had made it inside of the safe house, Claire slammed the door shut. She quickly climbed outside of the store through the window as the tank ran in. The girl screamed in fear. The creature pounded at the safe house door, desperately trying to get at Zoey.

Claire pulled out her shotgun and held the trigger, pouring a decent amount of lead into it. It turned its attention towards her. She could now hear Zoey crying. Somehow, that was all the motivation she needed. She ran backwards, constantly pouring lead into the monster. She only stopped to pull out a Molotov. She lit the rag and threw the deadly concoction at the monster. It ran up to her, desperately trying to get a hit in. Claire, being much smaller, was able to dodge the creature, causing it to hit itself. She ran back to her vantage point, switching her shotgun out for her pistols. The creature ran at her, fling cars as if they were small rocks. Claire lined up her sights and open fired. The monster punched her off of the dumpster. She fell down hard against the ground. She looked up at the monster as it attempted to smash her into the ground. She held up her guns and pulled the triggers as many times as she could. The creature fell to the ground with a loud thud.

Claire sighed, feeling an overwhelming sense of pain as she did. She looked at her side and noticed a sharp fragment buried deep into it.  
"Damn it!" she growled. She pulled the fragment out with a stifled cry of pain. She put one of her pistols away so she could put pressure on the wound. She stood up slowly, cringing in pain. Her ankle had suffered damage, but it only felt like a sprain. Her gut, however, may as well have been torn to shreds inside of her. The pain was unbearable. Claire limped a couple steps before coughing up something.

'That's never good…' she thought. She looked down at the substance and frowned. It was blood. Fortunately, she knew how to take care of the wound. She limped over to the safe house, trying to ignore her pain. She managed to open the door with only a little noise. She was surprised to see a pair med kits lying around. She closed the door and locked it. She noticed Zoey sleeping peacefully on the cold floor. She sighed and picked her up. Her body protested loudly against the action, causing Claire to cringe. She set Zoey down on a couch, which was surprisingly still intact. She smiled slightly before coughing up more blood. She crawled over to the med kits and began to tend to her wounds.

"Damn, this hurts," she grumbled. She clutched her side in pain. She pulled her jacket and shirt away from the wound. She checked her ribs and realized that one of them was probably broken.  
"What I wouldn't give for one of those green herbs right about now…" she sighed. Claire remembered how much better she felt every time she had cleaned her wounds with one of them. She wrapped herself up in some gauze and propped herself up in the corner. She held her ankle and looked it over. It was already beginning to swell up. A small yawn escaped her lips. She decided to deal with it in the morning, falling quickly into a deep sleep.


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer!** I don't own anything to do with the Resident Evil or Left 4 Dead series.

Chapter Five

The Stalker-Angel and the Medical Student

Zoey woke up a little sore. She sat up slowly, her muscles complaining about the movement. She resolved to rest at the next chance she got so she wouldn't be as sore the next time she woke up. She quickly realized that she wasn't on the floor anymore and looked at the couch she was sitting on.  
'Do I sleep walk? Or did my stalker-angel move me?' she wondered. As if it was a response, heavy breathing quickly filled her ears. She looked at the end of the couch cautiously.

'It was the stalker-angel,' she thought, a small smile creeping onto her face. Zoey yawned and looked at a discarded med kit. All of the gauze and alcohol had been used up. She walked over to the person at the end of the couch. To her surprise, it was a woman. She was badly injured. The woman coughed up a little blood, a bloody hand reaching up weakly to cover her mouth. It was obvious that this woman was still human, but she wouldn't live long without proper medical attention. Zoey grabbed the remaining med kit from the desk and checked on the woman's wounds. She sighed in relief, realizing that they weren't getting worse. She changed the gauze on the woman's worst injury and sat a little further away to check on her own

Claire woke up after yet another hour. The first thing she noticed was that she was now on the couch. Her ribs felt like they were on fire, and the other girl was awake. She checked her ribs and found that the wound was stitched. She cringed again and looked over at the girl. She was tending to a fairly new wound on her leg.

Claire sat up a little bit. Zoey rushed over.  
"Hey. You shouldn't be moving right now," she said softly, putting her hands on Claire's shoulder, helping to ease her back into the couch. Claire winced, clenching her teeth together. Her entire body was gushing in pain. Zoey pressed lightly on her ribs.  
"Where'd you get that?" Claire asked, nodding to her new wound.  
"Food run," Zoey replied with a nervous giggle, "Good thing I'm immune."  
"Yeah, good thing," Claire chuckled. She winced again, clutching her side.  
"What caused that gash?" Zoey asked in a concerned tone.  
"It was a piece of metal. That monster didn't help much either," Claire responded in monotone.  
"You mean the tank?"  
"If this "tank" had huge muscles and no jaw, then yes, that thing."

The two of them were silent for a few moments.  
"So… were you the one following me?" Zoey asked nervously. She fiddled with her thumbs. Claire knew that Zoey was afraid of the truth, and she was afraid to say it.  
"Y-yes… I saw your friends run by. I was going to follow them, but…" she responded nervously, turning her head away.  
"But…?" Zoey prompted.  
"I… I noticed you were nearby… So I decided to help you out instead." Claire almost chocked on her words. She was only just realizing how much her actions made her look like a stalker. There was a second silence, more awkward than the last one.  
"Th-thanks," Zoey stuttered. Claire looked at her. Her face had flushed a little, and she was looking at the floor. Claire's face felt a little hot as she turned away.

'Why am I getting so embarrassed? I do this stuff all the time. It is my job after all.' She gulped.

'Will the awkwardness end?' Zoey complained in her head. She knew that they were both feeling awkward about the situation. It was probably because in her mind, the entire situation sounded like a fan girl was writing a fan fiction about them.

Somewhere else, the fourth wall crumbles into dust for the millionth time.

Zoey heard the woman gulp.  
'She's probably thinking the same thing,' she thought.  
"Anyways, we should introduce ourselves. My name's Zoey Jasper. What's yours?" she said, breaking the silence.  
"Claire. Claire Redfield. Nice to meet you, Zoey," the woman responded. She turned back to Zoey. A small smile crept onto Zoey's face.  
"Alright Claire. We should stay here a little longer. I managed to find some of these herbs to help with that injury," she declared, pulling out a green herb. Claire seemed shocked to see it.  
"Where did you get that?" she gasped. Zoey's smile grew into a grin.  
"I found it outside of a grocery store. It was just sitting there in a pot. Good thing I know that it's great for healing bad injuries just like the one in your side," she stated.  
"What were you? A medical student?" Claire asked, her lips twisting into a smile.  
"Actually, yes. I was," Zoey snickered. She thought about how much it shocked the guys to learn how much she knew about medicine, even though she had been failing her classes. Claire's smile turned into a weak grin. Zoey knew that made the tension easier.

'Simple friendly chatter. Always works. Now all we need is a bomb to blow up the city,' she thought with a snicker. She removed Claire's bandages and crushed the herb into a powder. Claire jumped a little when she put the crushed leaves into her wound. Zoey carefully wrapped a new bandage over the gash.  
"That should do until we get to Mercy Hospital. We should both get a couple more hours of rest too. The tank should be looking for us again by now," Zoey sighed.  
"Sounds wonderful. And I guess I forgot to mention that I killed the tank…" Claire said. Zoey blinked a couple times.  
"No wonder you're so badly beat up. You took that thing on by yourself?" she asked. Claire simply nodded.  
"Whoa. Remind me never to piss you off," Zoey commented. Claire giggled slightly. She shifted her body into a more comfortable position. Zoey caught the hint and leaned her back on the couch. She sighed, pleased with the fact that Claire would survive. It seemed to her that this was still only the beginning of a long road. She looked back at Claire's sleeping body.  
'I wonder how she got into this mess,' she thought, drifting silently back into sleep.


End file.
